Letting my ducks brood

[Jochenlyn]

Does anybody have/have had ducks that they are letting brood on fertile eggs?
Our 3 hens have a large communal nest outside with about 20+ eggs. I’m in my first year with duck keeping and I’m unsure if I should be candling the eggs or not.
I have been removing and eggs that smell bad or have black spots seen on the outside of the shell.
Any advice is much appreciated.

 

[Canadian Wind]

What breed?

I let mine sit their eggs last Spring (turned out only one nest was fertile), and I left the eggs alone, except for removing bad ones. I never forced my ducks off the nest though, just waited until they got off for some food and drink.